Improved medical preparation



Elaine tetra iettitt @ffiur CHARLES L..LEGE, OF SAN'ANTONIO, TEXAS. Lem Patent No. 65,580, dated June 11,1867.

IMPROVED MEDIGAL PREPARATION.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: t

Be it known that LGHABLES L. LEGE, of San Antonio, in the county of Bexar, in the State of Texas, have invented a new and improved or better Matter for the Preparation of Poultices, and as a medicine for the cure of scurvy. This'matter is a powder. A 2

The nature of the powder is that, when prepared into a poultice, his more mucilaginous, more cooling, effective, and at the same time healing, than flax-seed, slippery elm, or any of the home-made preparations for poultices. It does not sour or smell bad, nor become offensive when used, and on application remains moist and effective longer than other poultices. It possesses healing qualities which no other Poultice has. I claim for the powder that, as a oultice, it is not only effective but superior to all otherpoultices in all cases of boils, carbuncle's, felons, swellings, and inflammations where poultices are used. his effective also in cases of wounds, where the object is to cool and prevent or reduce inflammation, and draws therefrom the pus, and heals them at the same time. 1 I i As a remedy in the cure 0: or as a preventive against scurvy, taken internally, I believe it certain in its remedial eflct. Being impregnated with salt, and containing a large proportion of mucilaginousmatter, I find, on taking it, that it slightly purges, and at the same time supplies the patient with the necessary succulent vegetable nourishment, which it so largely contains, for counteraction.

To enable others to make and use my preparation, 'I will proceed to describe its preparation and application.

To make the powder, I take the most fleshy and pulpy sound leaves or joints of the O'actus optmtia, or cochinilifer, peel of carefully the rind and spines, then split them, according to their thickness, into two or three slices, and place them immediately on grate or sieve-bottomed slides in a drying-oven, regulating the hot air of the oven according to the drying of the pieces as it progresses. First, the heat is moderate; then, as'

the leaves become warm, more heat is turned in. The pieces are turned at short intervals, and must lie singly, and the heat is increased as they become drier, until they are perfectly dry and crisp through. Care must be taken that the pieces do not get scorched, which-spoils the powder. The dried leaves or pieces are then pounded in a mortar, or ground in a mill, andbolted through a fine hair or cloth bolter, on the plan of bolting flour. The bolted powder is then put up in tin cans or glass bottles, the same as mustard, and is ready for use.

For a poultice, take, according to the quantity wanted, from two to five teaspoonfuls of powder, and add boiling water until it is of the consistency of a thick jelly. In about thirty seconds the poulticeis ready for application. The powder must be mixed fresh for every oultice. I i

As a preventive against the scurvy, give the patient, when the disease is feared, a tea-spoonful, mixed in a glass of lukewarm water, three times a day, for three or four days. As a remedy of the scurvy, give a tablespoonful, in a glass of lukewarm water, three to four times a day.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is--* The invention of makingthis powder, and its application as a p oultice and a medicinal remedy against the scurvy, as herein described.

CHAS. L. LEGE.

Witnesses:

W. G. M. SAMUEL, F. M00. NEWTON, 

